1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid ejecting head and a liquid ejecting apparatus that eject a liquid through a nozzle, and more particularly to an ink jet recording head, an ink jet recording head unit, and an ink jet recording apparatus that dispense ink as an example of the liquid.
2. Related Art
Currently available liquid ejecting heads include an ink jet recording head that includes a flow path plate on which pressure chambers each communicating with a nozzle are aligned via partition walls formed therebetween. A piezoelectric element composed of a first electrode, a piezoelectric layer, and a second electrode is provided on a face of the flow path plate with a vibrating plate disposed therebetween, so that upon driving the piezoelectric element the pressure in the pressure chamber fluctuates, so as to dispense an ink droplet through the nozzle.
In some of such ink jet recording heads, the first electrode of the piezoelectric element disposed on the side of the vibrating plate is divided into individual electrodes that each correspond to one of the pressure chambers, while the second electrode continuously extends over the plurality of pressure chambers thus to serve as a common electrode, for example as disclosed in JP-A-2009-172878.
In the ink jet recording head according to the cited document, a lead electrode is provided for connection with the first electrode, i.e., each of the individual electrodes of the piezoelectric element. However, with the configuration according to the cited document, in which the first electrode is divided into the individual electrodes and the second electrode serves as the common electrode, the lead electrode is connected to the first electrode which is drawn out from the piezoelectric element, unlike a lead electrode connected to the second electrode. Accordingly, the connection point between first electrode and the lead electrode is located away from the substantial operative portion of the piezoelectric element, which results in degradation of the driving efficiency of the piezoelectric element originating from a voltage drop. Furthermore, the process of exposing the first electrode and connecting the lead electrode thereto may incur imperfect connection.
Therefore, it is expected to establish a connection structure between the lead electrode and the first electrode that allows the piezoelectric element to be efficiently driven.